Your Pinterest SEO is arguably the most important ways to increase your reach and drive more sales on the platform.

This is because Pinterest is a powerful visual discovery engine, where content lives on and constantly gets recycled and content will resurfaced over and over again. There is a much longer shelf-life on the content rather other platforms.

This social media platform is one of the main places users will visit to find new ideas and inspiration. Because of this, it’s important to think of the platform as more than just a social channel.

This is where search-engine optimization strategy comes in handy.

Here are our 10 tips to optimize your Pinterest SEO to take it to the next level.

#1: Set Up Your Profile for Success 

One of the easiest ways to improve your Pinterest SEO is to make sure to add keywords to your display name.

Using words that accurately reflect your brand will help you to get discovered in relevant searches.

Putting some thought into your username is also beneficial. Your username serves as your profile’s URL, so make one that is direct, concise, and memorable.

It’s also a good idea to use the same username across all of your social channels and website so it makes it easier to find your profile.

#2: Craft the Perfect Bio

To begin, draft a bio that explains who you are and what you can do/offer. It can be as straightforward or creative as you would like, as long it has relevant keywords that someone could search on Pinterest to find your profile.

If you want to add something fun, add a slogan or quote in the second sentence.

Protip: Add a call-to-action in your bio. This is a great spot to encourage activity and engagement that is highly-visible.

Photo from Later.com

#3: Claim Your Website (and Shop!) 

When you’re able to feature your website URL on your profile, it serves as a keyword, allowing you to be even more discoverable. It will also help you appear more official.

There are two ways you can verify yourself on Pinterest, claiming your website and verifying yourself as a merchant.

When you claim your website, you’re indicating to Pinterest that you’re a legitimate business or brand. Having a verified website on the platform allows gives you access to more Pinterest Analytics.

You can also verify your business as a merchant on Pinterest. You can visit the Pinterest Help Center for more information on becoming a Verified Merchant.

If you have products, getting verified on Pinterest as a Verified Merchant will make it much easier for users to shop your products on Pinterest, increasing sales!

#4: Follow Other Accounts to Boost Your Visibility

Who you follow is important. Your following list helps to determine where you’ll appear in users’ suggested boards and profiles to follow.

Strategically thinking about who to follow will place you in front of the right eyes. Following profiles that are similar to yours, your Pins are more likely to show up in their followers’ suggested Pin recommendations.

Protip: It’s a good idea to follow influencers and celebrities who are aligned with your brand.

#5: Publish Video Pins

Video Pins allow you to share so much more about your brand story than in an image. Views of organic Video Pins are up 240% year on year and great for your SEO strategy.

Video Pins are listed at the top of Pinterest mobile app search results. When you search for a pin, a block of Video Pins sit above the rest of the feed.

#6: Make Your Boards Discoverable 

Boards can show up in search results on Pinterest, so you’ll want to make your board names and descriptions as SEO-friendly as possible. Using strategic keywords and searchable words will make a difference with your board’s SEO.

It’s worth it to write detailed board descriptions that coordinate with your board names and include keywords, that are also searchable.

Photo from Later.com

#7: Create Captivating, Original Content 

The best way to boost your profile for Pinterest’s search engine is to create content that users will stop scrolling and want to view, save, and engage with.

It’s important to create ideas that aren’t just relevant and useful, but also visually attention-grabbing.

#8: Create Pins with Optimal Ratios 

The ratio of your images and videos is actually important on Pinterest and can be a key factor to what you’re missing in your strategy.

Using an optimal ratio will ensure your Pins display fully in search results. For an image is the 2:3 ratio. Previously popular super-long images no longer perform well, as Pinterest can deprioritize these in search results.

#9: Research & Write Strategic Pin Titles and Descriptions

By now, you can tell that keywords and strategic word choices are vital to your Pinterest SEO. The most the important place for keywords is your Pin title.

Pin titles can be up to 100 characters so keep your title simple and relevant.

In addition to having optimized keywords in your Pin titles, you should also include them in your Pin descriptions.

For Pin descriptions, always share the most important and relevant information first. You can use up to 500 characters, however, the first 50-60 characters are what Pinners will see on their feed so make it count!

Adding search-optimized keywords to your Pin titles and descriptions is one of the best ways to make your content easier to find on the platform and drive traffic to your site.

If you’re unsure about what keywords and hashtags you should be adding to your Pins, you can find inspiration by using the keyword research tool. These recommended keywords are ordered by search popularity, so you can take this into account as you plan the keywords and hashtags for your Pins.

Photo from Later.com

#10: Use Rich Pins

Rich Pins is one of the best tools when it comes to boosting SEO on Pinterest. They’re a great way to add more detail to your Pins and increase discoverability.

Whenever you create a Pin from your website, it becomes a Rich Pin because it pulls all the extra details from your site.

Right now there are four types of Rich Pins available to use:

  • Product
  • Article
  • App
  • Recipe

Conclusion

Having too much activity on Pinterest isn’t a bad thing. The more time you can invest, the better, just as long as you’re sending a consistent SEO message about your brand.

With the right SEO strategy, your Pins can still be cycling for months down the line.

After these 10 tips, you have all information needed to get your account growing on Pinterest!

If you have any questions, feel free to reach out to the Rhinos!